Is Palm Oil the New Trans Fat?


Updated 10/14/11 11:49 AM · Posted by FitSugar · 8 comments

Is Palm Oil the New Trans Fat?

Partially hydrogenated oil is a type of trans fat that has gotten a lot of flak, and rightfully so. This chemically altered fat is known to raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels, and increase your chance of developing coronary heart disease. Many companies are replacing hydrogenated oil with palm oil, saying that's it's a healthier option. On nutritional labels Read more

Palm Fruit Oil vs. Palm Kernel Oil


Updated 01/11/08 12:57 PM · Posted by FitSugar · 11 comments

Palm Fruit Oil vs. Palm Kernel Oil

I was food shopping the other day, reading labels as usual, and I came upon the ingredient palm fruit oil. I kind of assumed that it was the same as palm kernel oil, but I was wrong. Palm fruit oil (also called palm oil) is extracted from the fruit of the oil palm tree while palm kernel oil comes from the palm seed found inside the fruit. Eighty-six percent of the fat in palm kernel oil is Read more

Colorful and Varied: A Brazilian Food Primer


Updated 03/24/12 6:17 PM · Posted by · 2 comments

Brazilian Food

Photo: Susannah Chen For a country as large as Brazil, it's no surprise that each region has its own traditional recipes and dishes. Regional cuisines have been influenced over time by immigrants and what natural crops are available to them. In the North, you will find caruru, a dish featuring okra, onions, shrimp, peanuts, and palm oil, and in the South, you'll be able to sit down to a plate of Read more

Know Your Ingredients: Dende Oil


Updated 03/28/11 11:17 AM · Posted by · 6 comments

Cooking With Dende Oil

In an age when grocery shelves are stocked with everything from toasted sesame oil to coconut oil, here's a relative unknown that you may have never heard of: dendê oil. This oil, which has a distinctive orangey-red color and a thick, somewhat opaque consistency, is a recurring ingredient in the cuisines of Southeast Asia, West Africa, and Bahia, a northeastern region in Brazil. There, the very Read more

Margarine War: Earth Balance vs. Smart Balance


Updated 02/22/12 1:13 PM · Posted by FitSugar · 34 comments

Margarine War: Earth Balance vs. Smart Balance

As if the war between butter and margarine weren't enough to think about, now I have to choose between kinds of margarine. Have you ever wondered what the difference is between these two? They're both organic, dairy free, and made without hydrogenated oils, but what else sets them apart besides their names? Serving Size 1 tbsp 1 tbsp 1 tbsp Calories 100 80 102 Total Read more